Chapter 5: A New Beginning
The headlines the next day were chaotic. Vance Empire in Turmoil? the papers read. Successor Discovered. But inside the Vance mansion, the headlines didn't matter.
Elara—now dressed in silks instead of rags—sat by the fireplace, a bowl of hot soup in her lap. She wasn't a ghost of the streets anymore. She was a daughter.
Silas sat across from her. He hadn't returned to the office. He hadn't answered a single phone call. The man who had been defined by his cold authority was currently trying to figure out how to braid a little girl’s hair.
"You don't ever have to be hungry again," Silas said, his eyes tracing the crescent mark on her neck—a mark that had been the map that brought her home.
Elara smiled, and for the first time, it reached her eyes. She looked at the man who commanded the city, the man who had terrified everyone else, and saw only a father.
May you like
"I know," she said.
The empire would continue, but its purpose had changed. Silas Vance would still be a force to be reckoned with, but his enemies learned a dangerous lesson: the man was no longer fighting for power. He was fighting for his family. And heaven help anyone who tried to take his daughter away from him again.
